pregnancy and keto?

Hi everyone...I have been following a keto diet for several months now and feel better when I don't consume carbs. However, I am now pregnant and I was wondering whether it is still a safe diet to follow or if I should just abandon it until after the baby is born. I still lift 4x a week though not as heavy and I still run about 20 miles a week. What does anyone think?

The "official" position is that a keto diet is not suitable while you are pregnant. Mind you, the official position is that a keto diet is dangerous and will rot your bones while clogging up your arteries. So I wouldn't get too worked up about that.

As far as I can find, there is no research done on keto and pregnancy. However, though I ate a standard mixed diet while I was pregnant, I cycled so much (I puked on buses) that I was often in ketosis and it didn't seem to cause any problems. Many women end up in ketosis due to trouble keeping food down.

Breastmilk is a ketogenic food, and an exclusively breastfed baby is in ketosis for the first six months, until solids are introduced, so it seems logical that ketones are not harmful to a baby.

My personal inclination would be to exercise as much as feels comfortable, sleep as much as possible, and just eat a clean diet to hunger.

There is a lot of research to show that regular moderate exercise helps prevent GD. It also makes you more likely to deliver around your due date, and to have a quicker labour with fewer interventions.

The general rule is that any activity you practised before you got pregnant, you can continue as long as is comfortable.

hi, im a med student, nd i graduate in a month.
i recently did obstetrics and gynecology so i guess you can take my advice.

if you are on a keto diet, id suggest you change your diet to a normal balanced one -
remember, as you are pregnant, you are eating not just for yourself, but for your child. and its in the best interst for a healthy baby for you to have a balanced meal ( not to remove a food group - in this case - carbs)

the bets perdictor for a good pregnancy is a good antenatal care system - so go to your clinics and have a hospital delivery - its much safer!
ask your doctors about any further qiestions you may have regarding your diet - im sure they will say the same thing as i am!

make sure you take folic acid and also some iron tablets - it helps in brain developement and improves intelligence in your kid - the iron is for you cos you may lose some blood during labour!

as for the woman who was diebetic and had an 8lb baby- this is quite serious - in the uk, this is considered high risk - she would have been on insulin if her glucose tolerance was impaired - 8 lb babies are big and pulling a big kid out of a tiny hole can be a real problem - this is high risks of intra uterine death, arrested descent in second stage ( when your pushing) malrotation ( your baby comes down in the wrong position - making surgery or trauma likely)
shoulder distocia - the baby gets its shoulder stuck - and you have to force it out - they can damage the nerves in the shoulder. excess bleeding and miscarriage is also more likely -
if this woman you mention does have another kid, its best for her to have a glucose tolerance test and then to go onto insulin - if its abnormal - oh yeah, she may as well have one done now ( women with gestational diabetes are at higher risk of developing normal diabetes anyways)

as for the woman who was diebetic and had an 8lb baby- this is quite serious - in the uk, this is considered high risk - she would have been on insulin if her glucose tolerance was impaired - 8 lb babies are big and pulling a big kid out of a tiny hole can be a real problem - this is high risks of intra uterine death, arrested descent in second stage ( when your pushing) malrotation ( your baby comes down in the wrong position - making surgery or trauma likely)
shoulder distocia - the baby gets its shoulder stuck - and you have to force it out - they can damage the nerves in the shoulder. excess bleeding and miscarriage is also more likely -
if this woman you mention does have another kid, its best for her to have a glucose tolerance test and then to go onto insulin

1. She is not diabetic- she had GD and kept it completely under control with diet.

hi, im a med student, nd i graduate in a month.
i recently did obstetrics and gynecology so i guess you can take my advice.

if you are on a keto diet, id suggest you change your diet to a normal balanced one -
remember, as you are pregnant, you are eating not just for yourself, but for your child. and its in the best interst for a healthy baby for you to have a balanced meal ( not to remove a food group - in this case - carbs)

the bets perdictor for a good pregnancy is a good antenatal care system - so go to your clinics and have a hospital delivery - its much safer!
ask your doctors about any further qiestions you may have regarding your diet - im sure they will say the same thing as i am!

make sure you take folic acid and also some iron tablets - it helps in brain developement and improves intelligence in your kid - the iron is for you cos you may lose some blood during labour!

as for the woman who was diebetic and had an 8lb baby- this is quite serious - in the uk, this is considered high risk - she would have been on insulin if her glucose tolerance was impaired - 8 lb babies are big and pulling a big kid out of a tiny hole can be a real problem - this is high risks of intra uterine death, arrested descent in second stage ( when your pushing) malrotation ( your baby comes down in the wrong position - making surgery or trauma likely)
shoulder distocia - the baby gets its shoulder stuck - and you have to force it out - they can damage the nerves in the shoulder. excess bleeding and miscarriage is also more likely -
if this woman you mention does have another kid, its best for her to have a glucose tolerance test and then to go onto insulin - if its abnormal - oh yeah, she may as well have one done now ( women with gestational diabetes are at higher risk of developing normal diabetes anyways)

hope this helps.

There is so much wrong with this that I don't know where to start.

Actually I do. 8lb is NOT a big baby. It's a bog standard normal birthweight, the sort of size that you would expect to have a normal labour and natural birth.

What on earth is this business of "pulling a big kid out of a tiny hole"? Babies get pushed out, not pulled.

All the statistics show that for woman with a normal pregnancy and no contra-indications, a planned home birth is safer than hospital.

Do NOT take large doses of extra iron unless you are specifically diagnosed as deficient. High maternal iron readings are associated with a high risk of haemorraging. Folic acid is a good idea, for everyone, not just pregnant women.

Most doctors are more aware, but I reckon that if you are healthy, the best way to go is midwife-led care. Obstetrics is how to deal with birth gone wrong. Midwives are experts in keeping things normal.

Hi everyone...I have been following a keto diet for several months now and feel better when I don't consume carbs. However, I am now pregnant and I was wondering whether it is still a safe diet to follow or if I should just abandon it until after the baby is born. I still lift 4x a week though not as heavy and I still run about 20 miles a week. What does anyone think?

I would suggest you stop the keto diet. For no other reason but you are eating for too and chances are that little guy/girl wants some carbs. he/she told me

For what it's worth, my memory of being pregnant is that you will soon find out what you need to eat, and what you need to avoid. I had all sorts of ideas of the ideal pregnancy diet, but my body had other ideas.

I found, for instance, that I couldn't stomach non-organic vegetables, but organic was fine. I ate a lot of root vegetables and oatmeal and milk, because they stayed down. Just the smell of coffee make me throw up and I was over seven months on before I could stomach tea again.

Before I got pregnant the first time, I was vegetarian. While I was pregnant, I started eating fish again (lots) and meat (a little). Once the baby was born and I started breastfeeding, I wanted meat four times a day, starting with blood pudding for breakfast.

You'll probably find that your body will tell you very clearly what you need to eat.

For what it's worth, my memory of being pregnant is that you will soon find out what you need to eat, and what you need to avoid. I had all sorts of ideas of the ideal pregnancy diet, but my body had other ideas.

I found, for instance, that I couldn't stomach non-organic vegetables, but organic was fine. I ate a lot of root vegetables and oatmeal and milk, because they stayed down. Just the smell of coffee make me throw up and I was over seven months on before I could stomach tea again.

Before I got pregnant the first time, I was vegetarian. While I was pregnant, I started eating fish again (lots) and meat (a little). Once the baby was born and I started breastfeeding, I wanted meat four times a day, starting with blood pudding for breakfast.

You'll probably find that your body will tell you very clearly what you need to eat.

How many children do you have? You should write a book about the experience- from diet and excercise and delivery all through ending breastfeeding you really know a lot. I wish I had known all of that before hand.

Three children, all home births, all extended breastfeeding. Believe me, this came as a shock to me. Before I got pregnant the first time, I had just assumed that I would have the most high-tech birth available (preferably a Star Trek-style "Beam it out" operation). I had planned to breastfeed, but only so that I could eat extra Mars bars.

Then I started researching, and discovered that the more high-tech the birth, the greater the likelyhood of all sorts of complications (Ireland has a C-section rate of almost 30%, and a tiny breastfeeding rate) and the more it would hurt! So I ended up having them all at home, with a great midwife who did not shout "PUSH" once, and no painkillers.

What to know a secret? When you're at home and can move to suit yourself, labour feels pretty much like a giant breathing set of squats. The pain involved is that Muscle-worked-to-failure pain, nothing like an injury. In a weird way, it's almost fun.

And I found that breastfeeding not only had all sorts of benefits for the baby, but for me as well, and it was far less effort than getting up in the middle of the night to heat up bottles.

thanks,
I never thought about it but being at home must have been nice. It would be(was) very stressful to wait until the right time rush to the hospital and then be in a strange place with different people popping in and out of the room all the time( I wonder how hospitals in the US keep things straight you never see the same person twice).

I think I'm the lucky one. I've got great kids, and I actually enjoyed having them.

I can't swear that pregnancy was nine months of joy, that puking on the bus business was no fun for anyone, and the whole thing of what to eat was nine months of worry: no matter what you eat or don't eat, there's some expert somewhere who'll insist it is bad for your baby.

Yes, not having to plan the trip to hospital was great, and having the same midwife do all the antenatal and after-birth care was wonderful.

What I had planned for the birth was gentle music, a warm bath and lots of squatting. When labour started, what I actually wanted was to stay upright and dance to very loud rock music. As long as I kept my hips moving, I could handle it. I'd have loved to have seen the reaction of the hospital to that!

What I had planned for the birth was gentle music, a warm bath and lots of squatting. When labour started, what I actually wanted was to stay upright and dance to very loud rock music. As long as I kept my hips moving, I could handle it. I'd have loved to have seen the reaction of the hospital to that!